I Believe In You
by Miss E Charlotte
Summary: Rylee Donovan is Matt and Vicki's little sister and girlfriend to Jeremy Gilbert until he begins to spiral out of control after losing his parents. Now single and heartbroken, she turns to Tyler, who has had a crush on her for years. Her life had never been perfect or easy and it's about to get even more complicated. Starts before the show then goes into the seasons.Jeremy/oc/Tyler
1. The Last Day Before Freedom

**Chapter 1- The Last Day Before Freedom **

_Dear Diary, _

_I can't believe it's the last day of school already. I guess that old saying 'times flies when you're having fun' is true. This has been one of the most amazing years of my life, I can't believe that this time last year, my best friend Jeremy, the guy I grew up with, asked me to be his girlfriend. I will admit, I wasn't sure about it at first, sure I had had a crush on him for a few years, but he had always been just my friend. The guy I had horror movie marathons with, played football with and we even started a food fight once at school together, but I never imagined he would see me as more, plus I was worried about losing him as a friend if it didn't work out or that things would change to much. But I have to say I was wrong, Jeremy is the best boyfriend a girl could ask for and honestly nothing much has really changed. We still do the same things we always did, only we kiss now, which has to be my favorite thing in the world. _

_But enough about that and don't worry, I'm not turning into one of those mushy girls who go on and on about their boyfriends. So now I will move on to my least favorite subject, my big sister Vicki. She has once again annoyed me. Wanna know how? I'll tell you how. The other day, Jeremy and I, were sitting at the kitchen table, trying to decide on what movie to watch and here walks in Vicki. She sits beside Jeremy and sticks her nose into our conversation, telling us what movies are her favorites, which of course were all my favorites cause she just has to take over everything I love, but then if that wasn't enough, she started flirting with Jeremy right in front of me. Ugh! She just pisses me off so bad, sometimes I wish ... _

Rylee Donovan looked up and quickly shoved her diary under the mattress of her bed when she heard a light knock on her bedroom door. She stood up from the bed and walked toward the door, turning back briefly to make sure her diary was really hidden away, before she opened the door and smiled at her brother Matt.

"Hey Ry, you ready?" Matt asked his fifteen year old sister, as he leaned against her door frame.

"Yeah, let me just grab my bag." Rylee said, as she walked over to her bed and grabbed her black book bag then followed Matt down the short hallway into the living room.

"Where's Vic?" Rylee asked, when she didn't see her big sister anywhere in the living room.

Matt rolled his eyes then said,"she said she's not going to school today."

"But it's the last day, that's the best day to go." Rylee argued.

Matt laughed then said,"I tried to tell her that, but she said she would rather sleep since she is failing anyway."

"She's failing?" Rylee asked, although she wasn't that surprised. School was never that important to Vicki, which she could understand cause she wasn't a fan of school either, but she knew if she ever wanted to get out of Mystic Falls and make a better life for herself, she needed good grades.

Matt scoffed then said,"of course she is, how is she going to pass if she never goes to school."

"How is it that me and you turned out normal and Vicki turned out the way she did?" Rylee asked, then said before he could answer,"maybe she was switched at birth."

"She acts to much like Mom to be switched Ry." Matt said laughing.

"Well maybe we were switched then." Rylee joked.

"Trust me, sometimes I wished that was true." Matt joked back.

Rylee looked at her brother and smiled, she had always felt like the luckiest girl in the world to have him as a brother. After their Dad walked out on them, their Mom begin to leave town for months at a time and Vicki begin to party her life away, Matt was the one family member she could always count on. He was her rock and he had always told her she was his and together they could get through anything. She really believed that too, she believed together, her and Matt could do anything, which was why when Vicki was out all hours of the night, her and Matt were at the kitchen table every night doing their homework to make sure they had grades good enough to get into college and escape the town together. It was also why Matt practiced hard at football and why she took up cheerleading, they were both hopefully they could get scholarships one day.

"Hey, do we have time for breakfast? I'm starving." Rylee asked Matt, as he tossed his school books into his book bag.

"Uh yeah." Matt said, as he checked his watch, then said,"Tyler shouldn't be here until about five or so minutes."

"Ugh, why do we have to ride with Tyler?" Rylee groaned. It wasn't that she hated Tyler, she had grew up with him and they actually were kind of friends, he just had a bad habit of getting on her bad side most of the time.

Matt chuckled as he watched his little sister stomp off into the kitchen, then said,"cause for one, I'm almost out of gas and don't have enough money to fill up the truck and two, you know how Tyler is, he always likes for us to go to school on the last day together. It's been that way for a few years now."

"Yeah, yeah I know. Every since he got his licenses three years ago before you." Rylee said, as she rolled her eyes and opened the refrigerator door.

"You know the last day of school is like Christmas for him." Matt said with a laugh, as he walked into the kitchen.

"I know, cause that's the day all the girls wear their skirts short and their tops down low since they know they can't be suspended." Rylee said rolling her eyes again, then added,"you have got one weird friend Matty."

"Hey, he's your friend too." Matt said laughing.

"Only when he doesn't piss me off." Rylee mumbled, as she pulled a carton of milk out and sniffed it. She winkled her nose up in disgust then put the milk back in the refrigerator.

"Ok, it's official, we have nothing to eat." Rylee moaned, as she slammed the refrigerator door.

"I got a little bit of money left, you can buy something when we get to school ok?" Matt said to his sister.

Rylee opened her mouth to tell him it was ok, but before she could, they heard a loud knock on the front door before it opened and Tyler walked in as if he owned the place.

"Good morning Donovans." Tyler called out happily, as he walked over to Matt and Rylee.

"Be quiet man, you're going to wake up Vicki." Matt said to him.

"Yeah and you do not want to wake up the sleepy bear." Rylee added.

Tyler rolled his eyes then said,"whatever, you two ready to go?"

Rylee nodded her head as Matt said,"crap, hold on a minute. I left one of my books in my room."

While Matt ran to his room, Tyler looked over at Rylee and grinned as he said,"looking good this morning Laney."

Rylee sighed and rolled her eyes at his comment, she hated when he called her by her middle name 'Lane' or in this case 'Laney', but no matter how many times she told him not to, he continued to do it, it was one of the many things he did to drive her crazy.

"Oh look at that, you have only been here for five seconds and already you pissed me off. Not a good start Lockwood." Rylee said to him with a smirk on her face.

"Hey, I'm trying to pay you a compliment." Tyler said, as his eyes roamed over her body. He was being sincere, she did look good in a pair of ripped blue jeans and a black tank top that had fringes on the bottom. But of course she always looked good, which was something he noticed years ago, around the time he develop a crush on her, yet he never did anything about it, cause she was his best friends kid sister. If he ever even though about touching her, he knew Matt would kick his ass or at least try.

"Yeah right." Rylee said, as she turned away from him to pick up her book bag. As she placed the bag on her shoulder, her stomach begin to growl loudly, causing Tyler to chuckle.

"You hungry or something?" Tyler asked.

"Starving actually." Rylee answered.

"We can stop somewhere on the way to school and I'll buy you breakfast." Tyler offered.

"What do you want?" Rylee asked him suspiciously, as she folded her arms across her chest.

"What do you mean?" Tyler asked confused.

"You're being nice, you're never nice." Rylee said, then added,"you're up to something."

"I'm not up to anything." Tyler said laughing, then said,"you're hungry and I offered to buy you something, that's it."

"Liar." Rylee said, as she looked at him.

"How do you know I'm lying?" Tyler asked.

"Cause you're mouth is open." Rylee said with a smirk.

Tyler rolled his eyes then said,"I'm not lying Laney, it's just breakfast, that's all. Why don't you ever trust me?"

"Have you met you? You can't be trusted Ty." Rylee pointed out.

"Whatever." Tyler mumbled angrily, then added,"see if I try to be nice to you again."

"Ok, I'm ready." Matt announced, as he walked into the living room. He looked between his sister and best friend then asked,"what's going on in here?"

"Nothing much, just your sister being a psycho." Tyler answered.

"I'm not a psycho, you're friend is a jackass." Rylee added.

"You two are fighting already?" Matt asked.

"She started it."

"He started it." Rylee and Tyler said at the same time.

"Ok you two, let's just get to school before you two kill each other." Matt said, as he walked toward the front door.

"Come on." Tyler said, as he looked at Rylee, who was shaking her head and refusing to move.

Once Tyler realized she wasn't going to walk out the door, he rolled his eyes then walked over to her in two big steps and tossed her over his shoulder.

"Put me down!" Rylee called out, as she kicked her legs and punched him in the back.

"Calm down Laney, before I drop you." Tyler said back, as he walked out the front door.

"If you drop me, I swear I will kill you." Rylee threatened him.

Tyler didn't say anything back as he carried her toward his car, he knew he would never drop her and deep down she knew it too. But he couldn't help but chuckle as she continued to threatened him. It wasn't the first time she had threatened him and he knew it also wouldn't be the last, that was just the type of thing that always happened when they got around each other and to be honest he liked it. He liked getting under her skin and getting a reaction out of her, even if it was a bad one.

_...ooo...ooo...ooo..._

After a long car ride, arguing with Tyler the whole way, Rylee finally made it to school. The only nice word she spoke to Tyler the whole way was a 'thanks' when he did stop by a fast food drive thru and bought her and Matt breakfast.

As soon as Tyler parked the car, Matt left them alone as he went off to find his girlfriend Elena, causing Rylee to groaned quietly to herself as Tyler begin to walk beside her across the parking lot.

"Are you going to be nicer to me now that you're not hungry and cranky?" Tyler asked her.

"Not at all." Rylee said, as she walked faster, hoping to get away from him.

Unfortunately, her plan didn't work as he jogged toward her and said,"so let me get this straight, I do something nice for you and I still get a bitchy attitude from you?"

"Yep." Rylee answered.

Tyler reached out and lightly grabbed her arm, stopping her from walking away, she turned to look at him with a confused expression on her face as he said sincerely,"why do you hate me so much Rylee?"

She was taken aback by his question, he had never asked her anything like that before and the truth was, she didn't hate him. This was just the way they always acted toward each other, he would act like a dick and she'll act like a bitch back. It worked for them.

Rylee opened her mouth to answer him, but before she could, she heard someone call out her name. She looked over Tyler's shoulders and saw Jeremy waiting on her.

She looked back at Tyler then said softly,"I don't hate you Ty."

"Really?" Tyler asked surprised.

"Really." Rylee answered, then said nicely,"got to go, thanks for the ride and breakfast."

Tyler watched her as she ran toward Jeremy and jumped into his arms, she wrapped her legs around his waist then gave him a long sweet kiss, before she slid down and placed her feet back on the ground. Tyler narrowed his eyes and balled his hands into a fist as he watched Jeremy smile at her then grabbed her hand as they walked inside the school building together. He had been watching them every day for a year being all couply and he was tired of it. He would never admit it to anyone, but it actually hurt him to see her with someone, even though he knew it would have happened one day, the girl was to beautiful to be single for ever, but a part of him had always hoped when she did get ready to date, she would have given him a chance, but unfortunately it never happened and probably never will.

_...ooo...ooo...ooo..._

After walking away from Tyler, never knowing the things he was thinking or feeling, Rylee walked inside the building beside Jeremy as they made their way toward their lockers.

"I can not wait until today is over, I'm ready for summer vacation to begin." Rylee said, as she released Jeremy's hand to open her locker.

"Me too." Jeremy agreed, as he opened his locker as well.

"Do we have any plans for the summer yet?" Rylee asked him.

"Well we could do a monster movie marathon, a video game marathon..."

"Which I will kick your ass in." Rylee said interrupting him, as she shot him a cocky smile.

"You wish babe, I kicked your ass last time." Jeremy said back.

"Only cause you cheated." Rylee said laughing.

"Hey! I don't cheat." Jeremy called out.

"You always cheat, cause you know it's the only way to beat me." Rylee added.

Jeremy shut his locker door then stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist as he said,"whatever you're not as good as you think."

"Oh I am very good or did you forget?" Rylee said, as she turned her head to look at him with a flirty smile before looking back inside her locker.

"I never forget." Jeremy said, as he lightly kissed her neck.

Rylee chuckled as she shut her locker door then turned around to face him, she wrapped her arms around his neck then said,"watch it mister, don't start something you can't finish."

"How about I start it now and finish it later?" Jeremy asked, as he leaned forward and softly kissed her lips.

"That will work." Rylee said laughing, then asked,"so are we doing anything tonight? I mean it is our anniversary unless you forgot."

"I didn't forget." Jeremy said smiling, then said,"but we might have to celebrate later."

"Why?" Rylee asked with a pout.

"It's game night." Jeremy answered. His parents, Grayson and Miranda, planned a family game night twice a month. It was a way for the whole family to get together and catch up since everyone was always busy with either work, school or friends.

"Oh right, the famous Gilbert game night. How could I forget." Rylee said with a laugh.

"You can join us tonight if you want." Jeremy suggested.

"You sure?" Rylee asked with a hopeful smile. Since her parents were gone, Vicki was always out and Matt busy, she had always loved joining Jeremy and his family on game night.

"Yeah it's fine, you know Mom loves when you join us." Jeremy answered.

"That's cause we team up and beat all of you." Rylee said laughing.

"You two might have beat us last time, but we're playing pictionary tonight and as you know, I rock at that game." Jeremy said with a smirk.

Rylee laughed then rolled her eye as she said,"whatever, bring it on Gilbert."

"Oh I will." Jeremy said laughing back, as he gave her a quick kiss as the bell rang.

"Well guess we better get to class so this day can hurry and end." Rylee said, as she and Jeremy begin to walk down the hallway together.

"Yep." Jeremy agreed.

"Did I tell you how excited I am that today is the last day?" Rylee joked, as she looked over at him.

"Maybe once or twice." Jeremy said laughing, as he watched her bounce up and down with a happy grin on her face.

"Ah! I'm so excited." Rylee cheered out, as she jumped on Jeremy's back.

Jeremy laughed at her excitement and held on to her so she wouldn't fall off of his back. He wasn't surprised by her actions, she acted the same way every year, she loved when school ended and summer began.

"Mark my words baby, this is going to be the best summer ever!" Rylee called out, as she leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

_...ooo...ooo...ooo..._

_a/n- So I got this new idea in my head weeks ago and was going to wait before I started it, but it just wouldn't leave my mind lol So I decided to start it. This story will start out before the show then go into season 1 later. I hope you all enjoy the first chapter and I can't wait to hear what you all think. Happy Reading :)  
_


	2. Let the Games Begin

**Chapter 2- Let the Games Begin**

Later that night, Rylee walked up to the Gilbert's front door while balancing a plate in her hands. Once in front of the door she rang the door bell and waited for someone to answer. She didn't wait long as the door opened and Miranda stood in front of her with a friendly smile on her face.

"Rylee! I'm glad you're here, come on in." Miranda said, as she opened the door wider for the younger girl to walk in.

"Thanks for having me." Rylee said smiling, as Miranda gave her a quick hug.

"No problem, you know you are always welcomed for game night." Miranda said, then added,"besides I need your game winning skills tonight."

"That's why I'm here." Rylee said laughing, then said as she handed her the plate in her hands,"here I brought these."

"Are these you're world famous chocolate chip cookies?" Miranda asked, as she looked at the plate with tin foil on it.

Rylee nodded her head, then joked,"I figured we could give the losers cookies after we beat them, so they don't whine."

"Good plan." Miranda said with a laugh, then she said,"well come on in, everyone is in the kitchen and we have pizzas."

Rylee followed Miranda into the kitchen, where Jeremy and Grayson were playfully arguing over a slice of pizza and Jenna was sitting off to the side, laughing at them.

"Hey." Jeremy called out happily, when he saw his girlfriend walk into the room.

"Hey." Rylee said back, as she walked over to him and gave him a hug and said a 'hello' to Grayson.

"Here, I saved you a slice of your favorite." Jeremy said, as he handed Rylee a plate with a slice of pepperoni pizza.

"Thanks." Rylee said, as she smiled at him. Moments like those are what made her feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

"Rylee, you remember my sister Jenna right?" Miranda asked, as she pointed to her sister.

"Of course I do." Rylee answered, then she looked at Jenna and said,"hey Jenna, how are you?"

"I'm good, how are you?" Jenna said back with a friendly smile.

"I'm great, just ready to kick butt in family game night." Rylee said, causing everyone in the room to laugh.

"Ok and on that note, everyone grab your plates and let's move this into the living room." Miranda said cheerfully.

"What game are we playing tonight?" Grayson asked, as he followed his wife into the living room.

"We're playing pictionary." Jeremy answered, as he sat down on the couch. As soon as he was comfortable, he lightly grabbed Rylee's hand and pulled her down beside him.

"We should let Rylee choose a game, since she is our guest." Miranda said.

"What? No!" Jeremy called out, then added,"she'll just pick something she's good at so she'll win."

"I win at all the games Jer, you can't beat me." Rylee said, as she stuck her tongue out at him.

"We'll see about that." Jeremy said, challenging her.

"Wanna bet?" Rylee asked him.

"Oh God, they're making bets again." Elena said with a laugh, as she walked down the stairs, then she looked at her brother and said,"don't do it Jer, you know you always lose."

"Yeah well, I'm not losing this time." Jeremy said, then added to Rylee,"so what's the bet?"

"Loser, which will be you, has to clean my room for a week." Rylee said to him.

"Ok." Jeremy said, then added,"but when you lose, and you will, you have to clean my room for a week."

"Deal." Rylee said, as she shook his hand.

"You better hope you don't lose Ry, cause his room is a mess. It will take you longer than a week to make it look half way decent." Elena said laughing.

"My room's not that bad." Jeremy called out.

"Yes it is." Elena argued back. She opened her mouth to say something else, but before she could, they heard a horn blow outside. "That's Caroline and Bonnie. See you guys later." Elena said, as she walked over to the front door.

"Bye honey, love you. Call if you need anything." Miranda said out to her.

"I will. Love you guys." Elena said, as she walked out the front door.

"Where is she going?" Rylee asked, after Elena left.

"Some party." Jeremy answered.

"Oh right, the big end of school bonfire." Rylee said, then added,"I can't believe she would rather go to that than do game night."

"And that is why we should adopt you." Grayson joked.

"I think that would be a little weird since she's dating our son." Miranda said to her husband with a laugh.

"Aw you two are dating now? When did that happen?" Jenna asked the teens.

"Ok let's get game night going." Jeremy said, ignoring her question. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about his relationship with his parents and aunt.

Miranda chuckled at her son's change of subject then said,"ok, so how do we want to do the teams?"

Jeremy looked at his father then said,"Dad, do you want to be teammates and finally beat Mom and Rylee?"

"Yeah, let's do it." Grayson said, as he gave his son a high-five.

"Jenna? You want to be on our team, the winning team?" Rylee asked, as she pointed to herself and Miranda.

"Of course." Jenna said laughing.

"Alright then, it's girls vs boys. Get ready to lose ladies." Grayson announced.

"We'll see about that." Miranda said back to her husband.

After some playful arguing, everyone begin to play pictionary. A couple of hours later, with the boys somehow winning, Elena called the house asking if someone could come get her from the party. From what Rylee could understand, Elena had a fight with Matt, she had no idea what the fight was about, all she hoped was that her big brother was ok. She knew how much he loved Elena and how much it would upset him to lose her.

"Ok that was Elena, I need to go pick her up." Miranda said, then added,"you all can keep playing while I'm gone."

"Actually, why don't I go with you?" Grayson suggested.

"It's fine, I can do it alone." Miranda said.

"I know, but I want to go." Grayson said, as he stood up from the couch, then added,"beside I need to run by the office right quick anyway."

"Ok, well we'll be back soon then." Miranda said to Jeremy, Rylee and Jenna.

"And no cheating while we're gone." Grayson said to the girls.

"Don't worry Dad, I won't let them." Jeremy said laughing.

"I am shocked that you two would think that Rylee and I would cheat." Jenna called out.

"She would cause she's desperate." Jeremy said, as he pointed at Rylee.

"Hey! I don't need to cheat to win, that is all you Jer." Rylee said, as she picked up the small pillow from the couch and threw it at him.

Miranda laughed at the teens then said,"ok you two, behave, we'll be back."

"Bye, love you." Jeremy called out, as his parents walked out the door.

A few minutes after they left, Jenna looked at the young teens and smiled as she asked,"so how long have you two been dating?"

"A year." Jeremy answered, then he looked at Rylee with a smile as he said,"tonight is actually our anniversary."

"Why are you two here at game night if it's your anniversary? You two should be out celebrating." Jenna said.

"Cause I love kicking his butt in games." Rylee said laughing.

"Yeah, but you're the one getting your butt kicked tonight." Jeremy said laughing back.

"But the game isn't over yet Gilbert." Rylee argued.

"It is for now, so just admit you lost." Jeremy argued back.

As they playfully argued back and forth, Jenna stood up and said,"well, I think I'm going to head home."

"You don't have to go." Jeremy said to his aunt.

"Yeah stay Jenna, plus me and Miranda need you when they get back." Rylee added.

"You two will do just fine without me, plus I got a paper at home that needs me. I've been putting it off for way to long and it's due next week." Jenna explained.

"Ok, well I guess we'll see you later then." Jeremy said, as he stood up to hug his aunt bye.

"Yeah, I should be done with this semester soon, so I'll be here for the next game night." Jenna said.

"It was great seeing you again." Rylee said, as she hugged Jenna.

"You two, see you next time." Jenna said, as she hugged her back.

"Ok, you two crazy kids have fun and don't do anything I wouldn't do." Jenna said, as she walked to the front door.

"There's nothing you wouldn't do Jenna." Jeremy called out to her.

"That's true." Jenna said, then added,"ok don't do anything I would do."

"Got it." Jeremy said laughing.

Jenna laughed back then said,"ok take care and tell my lovely sister and brother in law, I love them and will talk to them later."

"Will do." Jeremy called out, as she walked out the door.

Once they were alone in the living room, the two teens sat down on the couch together. Rylee looked over at Jeremy then asked,"so now what do we do?"

Jeremy looked at her but didn't say anything, as he lightly grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him. She giggled as she straddled his lap, she opened her mouth to speak but before she could say a word, he laid a hand on her cheek and leaned forward to give her a long tender kiss.

"Mm not that I don't love this, but I don't think it's a good idea to make out on the couch." Rylee said to him after the kiss.

"Why not?" Jeremy asked.

"Cause your parents could walk through that door at any minute." Rylee said, as she nodded her head toward the front door.

"Good point." Jeremy said, then asked with a grin,"well let's go to my room then."

Rylee smirked then said,"and why should we do that? Do you think you're getting lucky or something?"

"No you dirty girl." Jeremy said laughing, then added,"I have your anniversary present in my room."

"Really? What is it?" Rylee asked with a huge grin on her face.

"You'll have to go up there and see." Jeremy said laughing at her excitement.

"Wait, this isn't a trick is it? You're not going to take me to your room and then tell me the present is in your pants right?" Rylee asked, as she shot him a look as she folded her arms across her chest.

Jeremy laughed then said,"well you will get that present, if you want it, but I do have a real present for you. It's in a small box and it's wrapped."

"Ah! I love small boxes that are wrapped." Rylee cheered.

"Well let's go get it then." Jeremy said, as he lightly tapped her leg, asking her to stand up.

Rylee stood up from the couch then happily followed Jeremy upstairs into his bedroom. He walked over to his dresser and opened the top drawer to take out a small white box wrapped in colorful wrapping paper. He handed the box to Rylee and watched as she ripped off the wrapped paper. She opened the small box then gasped in surprise when she saw what was inside, it was a sterling silver ring with two hearts that were intertwined.

"Jeremy, this is beautiful." Rylee said, as she took the ring out of the box.

"It's a promise ring." Jeremy said, as he took the ring from her hand and placed it on her finger.

Rylee smiled then said,"and what are you promising?"

"That I'll love you forever, you and only you. You are the only girl I want, you are the one for me Rylee." Jeremy said sincerely.

"I love you too Jer and you're the only one for me." Rylee said with happy tears in her eyes.

Jeremy smiled at her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her toward him for a passionate kiss. She ran her fingers through his hair as she tilted her head to the side to deepen the kiss. He grabbed the bottom of her tank top and pulled away long enough to pull the shirt over her head at the same time she pulled off the t-shirt he was wearing. Once their shirt were gone, he pulled her back toward him and pressed his lips against her as he slowly backed up her toward his bed. She fell back onto the bed, pulling him down on top of her as she ran her hands up and down his back.

"Wait, Jer, hold on." Rylee said, as she tried to catch her breath.

"What? Is everything ok? Did I hurt you?" Jeremy asked.

"No, no, everything is fine. It's just, do you have a... a um, you know?" Rylee asked.

"Yeah hold on." Jeremy said, as he stood up from the bed and walked over to his closet. He kneeled down to the floor and pulled up a loose floor board then pulled out a condom before making his way back over to the bed.

"You hide your condoms in the floor?" Rylee asked laughing.

"I can't chance Mom or Dad finding them. They would freak out if they knew we did this." Jeremy said laughing back.

"Well we better hope they don't come home anytime soon." Rylee said, then added with a laugh,"I would die if they caught us."

"Yeah that would be awkward." Jeremy said.

"Ok enough about parents. Get over here." Rylee said, as she sat up on her knees and grabbed his arm, pulling him toward the bed.

He stood in front of her on his knees as he placed his hands on either side of her face before kissing her. He moved his hands from her face to her back to unclip the black bra she was wearing. Once the bra was gone, they quickly removed the rest of their clothes before falling back on the bed together. All Jeremy could think about, other than his beautiful girlfriend under him, was he just hoped his parents didn't return home anytime soon.

_...ooo...ooo...ooo..._

_a/n- hello everyone! I am so glad people are so far liking this story. I hope you like this next chapter too. As you can tell there was a 'love scene' at the bottom. If you have never read one of my stories before, let me say I'm sorry I suck at them lol Thank you to everyone reading and/or adding the story. Also big thanks to KyroxIsxSmexy, Zoey24, PerfectlyObscure, amcgrath, Nirvana14 and Sage Londyn for reviewing the first chapter. Thank you all again and happy reading :)  
_


	3. Nightmare Come True

**Chapter 3- Nightmare Come True**

After some bedroom fun, Jeremy laid on his back on the bed as he tried to catch his breath and waited for his heart rate to slow down. Rylee wrapped the sheet across her chest then looked down at Jeremy with a smile, she had to admit this was the best anniversary ever.

"Wow. That was... just wow." Jeremy said, as he smiled back at her.

"I agree, that was wow." Rylee said, as she laid down beside him and rested her head on his bare chest.

"Did you learn some new moves?" Jeremy joked.

"Shut up." Rylee said, as she lightly slapped his chest and laughed.

Jeremy chuckled then softly kissed the top of her head as he said,"I love you Rylee and nothing will ever change that."

Rylee lifted up her head to look at him then said,"good, cause I'm not going anywhere, you are stuck with me Gilbert."

"Good to know." Jeremy said smiling, as he slowly kissed her lips.

Rylee sighed happily then said while sitting up in bed,"as much as I am loving this, we really need to get up and get dressed."

"Yeah." Jeremy agreed, as he too sat up in bed then added,"Mom and Dad should be home with Elena soon."

They quickly got out of bed and put their clothes back on then made their way out of the bedroom. As they went to walk down the stairs, they heard the doorbell ring through out the house.

"Wonder who that could be." Jeremy mumbled out, as he looked over at Rylee, who shrugged her shoulders.

Jeremy quickly jogged down the stairs with Rylee right behind him then he opened the front door and was surprised to see the sheriff standing in front of him.

"Hey Sheriff Forbes." Jeremy said, then added,"my parents aren't home right now."

"Actually I'm here to talk to you Jeremy." Liz said with a sad expression on her face. This had to be the hardest thing she had ever had to do.

"What's wrong?" Jeremy asked, as he tried not to panic. Rylee looked between Jeremy and Liz, she had a feeling something bad had happened. She reached out and grabbed Jeremy's hand, hoping to give him some comfort.

"It's about your parents and Elena." Liz answered softly.

"What happened?" Jeremy asked, as he squeezed Rylee's hand.

"T-there's been a accident." Liz said, then added,"the car drove off Wickery Bridge."

"Oh my God." Rylee cried out, as she placed her free hand over her mouth.

"A-are they ok?" Jeremy asked, as tears filled his eyes.

"Elena will be fine, she's at the hospital now. I can take you there, if you want." Liz offered.

"What about Mom and Dad?" Jeremy asked, already fearing the worse.

"I'm sorry Jeremy, but they're de... they didn't make it." Liz choked out, having a hard time using the word 'dead'. She still couldn't believe Miranda and Grayson were gone, she had known them her whole life and had considered them friends, but now they were gone, leaving their two teenagers without parents.

Rylee looked over at Liz in shock as tears begin to fall down her cheeks, she couldn't believe this was really happening. It had to be a nightmare. She couldn't help but think that maybe she and Jeremy fell asleep and she was having a terrible nightmare. _'That has to be it right?' _She thought to herself as she squeezed her eyes shut, as she wished this was a all just a bad dream.

Rylee quickly opened her eyes and looked over at Jeremy when she heard his heavy breathing. She could tell he was trying to keep his tears at bay, as he glanced over at Liz and said angrily,"you're lying."

"I'm sorry Jeremy, I wish this wasn't true." Liz said sincerely.

"It's not true! It's not." Jeremy yelled out, as he took a few steps back, trying to distance himself from Liz and her lies.

"Jeremy.." Rylee said softly, as she reached out to him.

"No! Back off!" Jeremy yelled at her. He placed his hands on his head and begin to mumbled quietly to himself over and over again,"it's not true, it's not true."

Rylee rushed to his side as his knees buckled and he fell to the floor with a sob. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled his body close to her. He laid his head on her shoulder as he continued to cry out loud. He couldn't believe his parents were really gone and were never coming back.

_...ooo...ooo...ooo..._

Close to a hour later, Rylee sat on a hard chair that was near Elena's hospital room. After sobbing his eyes out, Jeremy was finally able to stand up and get a ride from Liz to the hospital. Rylee suggested letting him go alone, since it was a family matter, but he held on tight to her hand and begged her not to leave him, which she promised she wouldn't, she would be by his side for as long as he needed her.

Unfortunately, once they made it to the hospital, they wouldn't let her go with Jeremy into Elena's room at the moment since she wasn't family. She hated to leave Jeremy to go inside alone, but there was nothing she could do, so now here she sat, as she waited for him. She would sit out in the hall for as long as she needed to, she would never leave him when he needed her the most.

As she waited, she looked down at the floor and felt tears fill her eyes, she still couldn't believe this was happening. She knew it had to be a million times worse for Jeremy and Elena, since it was their parents, but she had always seen Grayson and Miranda as her parents too. Since hers were never around, she had spent a lot of time at the Gilbert house. If she had homework problem or needed advice, Miranda was always there for her and on the weekends Grayson would go out into the yard with her and Jeremy to play football, basketball or whichever sport they were into at the time. They might not have been her real parents but they were the only parents she had in her life and she couldn't believe they were now gone.

Rylee quickly looked up when she heard a door open, she stood up and was by Jeremy's side in a instant. She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him tight as he pulled her close to him.

"How's Elena?" Rylee asked him, as she pulled back a little to look at him.

"She's ok, just resting." Jeremy answered. "The doctor said she's lucky. Somehow she got out of the car, if it wasn't for that..." He said, unable to complete the sentence.

"God, I still can't believe this happened." Rylee mumbled, as she hugged him again.

"Me either. I keep thinking it's just a bad dream and I'm going to wake up at any moment." Jeremy said, then added,"but it's real and it's my fault."

"What do you mean it's your fault?" Rylee asked confused, as she pulled back to look at him.

Jeremy dropped his arms from around her and took a step back as he said,"I wished it."

"What?" Rylee asked, still confused.

"Earlier tonight, when we were together, I hoped they wouldn't come home and catch us." Jeremy explained, then added angrily with tears in his eyes,"I was so worried about having alone time with you, that I killed my parents."

"What? Jeremy, no. You did not do this, hell I was thinking the same thing. I was hoping they wouldn't come home and catch us, but that's not why this happened." Rylee said, as she took a step toward him, hoping to get through to him. "It's just..." She begin to say.

"Don't!" Jeremy snapped, interrupting her.

"Don't what?" Rylee asked confused.

"Don't use one of those lame statements that people use to make other feel better when it really doesn't." Jeremy said angrily, then added,"like 'it was just a accident', 'it was their time' or 'they're in a better place'. Those are all lies Rylee, cause the truth is, the better place for them, is here with us and it was not their time."

"I know, I'm sorry Jer." Rylee whispered, as she laid a hand on his arm.

"They were suppose to grow old together, they were suppose to watch Elena and I grow old. Now they won't see us graduate, get married, hold their first grand baby. They're just gone, they are gone." Jeremy said, his voice cracking with emotion, then added as a tear fell down his face,"and they're never coming back."

Rylee didn't say anything as she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him as he quietly cried about not only losing his parents, but all the things in his life they were going to miss. Some people would say to him, that his parents would always be around in spirit or they would be looking down on him from Heaven, and maybe they were right, but it wasn't the same. He had always imagined when he was older, he would marry Rylee with his Dad standing beside him as his best man, while his Mom sat on the first row crying. Then a couple of years after that, when they begin to have kids, his parents would be a big part in their grand kids lives, but now that was all gone.

A few minutes later, Jeremy took a step back to break the hug and wiped his tears away. He swore then said,"damn it, I need to go call Jenna. I don't even know how I'm going to tell her about this."

"You want me to call her?" Rylee suggested.

"No, I can do it. Thanks though." Jeremy said, then added,"I'm just going to go step outside for a bit first, I need some fresh air."

"You want me to come with you or do you need a minute alone?" Rylee asked.

"No, I'm fine." Jeremy said, as he turned around and begin to walk down the long hallway.

Rylee watched him as he walked past the nurses station then walked out the side door to go outside. She wrapped her arms around herself and suddenly felt very alone in the cold and empty hall.

She quickly turned around when she heard someone call out her name, she couldn't stop the tears from falling down her face when she saw Matt running toward her.

"Matty." Rylee called out, as she ran down the hall to meet him and jumped into his arms.

"I just heard, I came as fast as I could." Matt said, as he held his sister tight with tears in his eyes.

"How's Elena?" Matt asked, as he released her and begin to wipe the tears off of her cheeks.

"She's going to be ok, she's right in there resting." Rylee answered, as she pointed to the door that Elena was in.

"And what about Grayson and Miranda?" Matt asked her.

Rylee's eyes begin to fill with fresh tears as she slowly shook her head then said quietly,"they didn't make it."

Matt quietly swore to himself as he ran a hand over his hair, he like everyone else, couldn't believe this was happening. These type of terrible accidents were the type you only hear about but never imagine it could happen to someone you know or care about.

"I'm going to go see Elena. Will you be ok?" Matt asked his sister.

"Yeah, but they won't let you see her. It's family only right now." Rylee said to him with a sad expression on her face. She knew how badly Matt wanted to be by his girlfriend's side.

"I don't care, I'm going to go see her and they can't stop me." Matt said forcefully, as he made his way toward Elena's door.

Rylee stood still and watched as a nurse tried to stop Matt, she saw them argue for a bit before the nurse nodded her head, telling him he could go inside for a little bit. She continued to watch her brother as he opened the door then took a cautious step inside before closing the door shut.

A few seconds later, Rylee was still staring at the closed door when she heard someone walking toward her, she turned around and was surprised to see Tyler walking toward her with a styrofoam cup of coffee in each hand.

"Hey." Tyler said to her, as he held out a cup toward her.

Rylee shook her head then said quietly,"no thanks."

"Where's Matt? I brought him a coffee too." Tyler said.

"He's inside with Elena." Rylee answered.

"Well I guess he can drink your coffee and I'll drink his." Tyler said, as he sat the other cup on a small table by the chair she had been sitting in earlier.

"Do whatever you like Tyler." Rylee said with a sigh, as she turned her head toward the door again.

Tyler silently watched her as he took a sip from the cup. He wanted to say something to her, but wasn't sure what. He didn't do well in situations like this, he didn't want to say the wrong thing but he did want to let her know he was there for her.

He took another sip of the coffee then sat the cup down as he cleared his throat and said,"this sucks huh?"

"What?" Rylee asked, as she turned her head to look at him. She was so lost in her own thoughts she had forgotten he was even standing there.

"I said this sucks, you know the accident and being in the hospital. Hospitals suck." Tyler explained, then groaned quietly to himself at how stupid he sounded.

"Why are you even here Ty?" Rylee snapped.

"I got a little to drunk at the party and Matt had to drive me home, then Mom told us what happened and we came here." Tyler admitted.

Rylee rolled her eyes then said,"why am I not surprised that you're wasted."

"I'm not wasted now, or at least not as much as I was." Tyler joked, hoping to get a smile or small chuckle from her.

Unfortunately for him it didn't work, instead she shot him a annoyed looked before looking back over at the door again.

Tyler watched her again as he shifted uncomfortable from one foot to the next and racked his brain for something else to say. Hopefully his second attempt would go better than his first.

"So... how are you doing?" Tyler asked her a few minutes later.

"How do you think?" Rylee snapped. She sighed when she saw the hurt look on his face then said,"look I'm sorry for snapping, it's just..."

"Hey, it's cool. I understand." Tyler said interrupting her, then asked sincerely as he took a step toward her,"but seriously, how are you doing? I know you were close to them."

"Honestly, I'm still a little shocked about it all." Rylee answered, then added,"but no matter how I feel, it's a million times worse for Jeremy and Elena. They are the ones who lost their parents, not me so it's not like I really have a right to be upset."

"But they were like parents to you, you do have a right to be upset." Tyler pointed out, then added,"it's ok to cry and mourn for them."

Rylee shook her head then said,"no, I can't."

"Why not?" Tyler asked softly, as he took another step toward her.

"Cause they were not my parents." Rylee snapped, then added with tears in her eyes,"I wished for years, back when Dad left and Mom stayed gone all the time, I wished that Miranda and Grayson were my real parents and now they're gone. They were good people and now they're gone."

Tyler reached out to grab her arm, but before he could grab her, she swiped his hand away and wiped the tears from her face as she tried to turn away from him. He rolled his eyes at her stubbornness as he reached out to her again, he lightly grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him before wrapping his arms around her waist to hug her.

"Stop it! Let me go!" Rylee called out, as she pushed against his chest, trying to get away which only caused him to hold on to her tighter.

"Just let it Rylee. Let it all out." Tyler said softly, as he continued to hold her.

"It's not fair! It's not fair!" Rylee yelled out, as she balled up her fist and punched his chest.

Tyler didn't say a word as she cried out,"why them? Why did they have to be taken away? Elena and Jeremy needed them, I needed them."

As she begin to break down and sob in his arms, Tyler ran a hand up her back and cradled the back of her head as she laid her head on his shoulder. He wanted to whisper words of comfort but knew there was nothing he could say to make things better, he settled for giving her comfort the only way he knew how, by holding her and letting her know he was there for her. He would always be there for her.

_...ooo...ooo...ooo..._

_a/n- hello everyone! I hope you all liked this chapter. I tried to make it as sad as possible lol. Thank you to everyone reading and/or adding the story. Also big thanks to KyroxIsxSmexy, Nirvana14, Sage Londyn and Rosie-Everdeen-Potter for reviewing. I hope you all continue to like this story. Thank you and happy reading :)_


	4. Dirty Little Secrets

**Chapter 4- Dirty Little Secrets**

It had been a couple of weeks since the terrible accident. Elena had stayed in the hospital for a few days before finally being released and was sent home, where Matt stayed by her side the whole time. While Matt was with Elena at every moment, Rylee was with Jeremy and when she wasn't, she was talking to Jenna, who moved in a few days after the accident, having learned that she was named legal guardian to Elena and Jeremy. Jenna was surprised to learn that Miranda and Grayson named her guardian, but she vowed to do her best and just hoped she didn't screw things up, which she felt like she was doing. Anytime she tried to talk to or comfort Jeremy, he bit her head off and she hardly talked to Elena, who stayed in her room most of the time. Rylee constantly reassured her, that she would do fine, that things would be tense for awhile while everyone grieved in their own way.

Every day when Rylee and Matt showed up at the house, Rylee never knew what kind of mood Jeremy would be in. One day, he would be laying in bed, crying his eyes out. She would rush to his side and hold him, while he begged her never to leave him alone again. Then the next day, he would scream at her to leave him alone, that he didn't need her, that he never needed her. But every day, Rylee still showed up, she knew he didn't mean any of the mean things he said, she knew he was just grieving and that he was anger at the situation and not at her. He just needed someone to be angry at and that is where she came in, she would be whatever he needed, a punching bag, a shoulder to cry on or whatever.

Rylee couldn't help but wonder what kind of mood he would be in today, as she stared out the passenger side window as Matt drove down the road toward the Gilbert house.

"You ok?" Matt asked, as he glanced over at his sister before turning back to look at the road.

Rylee turned to look at Matt and nodded her head as she said,"yeah, I was just thinking."

"About Jeremy?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Rylee asked surprised.

"You always get this certain look when you think about him, I've noticed it ever since you were a little girl." Matt answered.

Rylee softly smiled at his comment then said,"I just worry about him, I know he's hurting and I wished there was something I can do, but there isn't."

"Well you're there for him, that's the best you can do." Matt pointed out.

"Yeah I guess so." Rylee mumbled, then asked,"how is Elena doing? I haven't seen her much while we are there, she's always in her room."

"She mainly lays in her bed and stares off into space. She hardly talks to me or opens up and I wished she would, but I don't push her." Matt answered.

"I'm sure she will open up when she is ready." Rylee added.

"I hope you're right." Matt said with a worried look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Rylee asked, when she noticed his expression.

"I don't know, I mean I know she's going through a hard time cause of what happened, but I can't help but think she is pulling away from me cause she doesn't want to be with me anymore." Matt answered, then added,"I know it's stupid and selfish to be thinking that with everything going on, but I can't stop thinking about it and it worries me."

Rylee laid a hand on her brother's arm, hoping to comfort him as she said,"I'm sure that's not the reason Matty. Elena loves you, she's just going through a lot right now. I can't even imagine what it must be like to lose your parents, I mean sure, ours is never around, but at least we know they are still out there, but Miranda and Grayson are gone and never coming back. That is way worse than having absent parents like us."

"Yeah, you're right." Matt said, as he breathed a sigh of relief. He realized his little sister was right, Elena wasn't pulling away from him cause she didn't love him anymore, she was just hurt and depressed over losing her parents, and he was just being paranoid.

"Of course I'm right, I am the smartest out of all of us." Rylee joked.

Matt shook his head and laughed at her comment as he parked the truck in front of the house and turned it off. As he exited the truck, Rylee grabbed the brown paper bag from the Grill, she and Matt had stopped by to grab food for everyone on the way, then she too exited the truck and followed along behind Matt as he walked toward the front door.

Normally they would knock or ring the door bell, but since they knew Elena and Jeremy would be in their rooms and Jenna was at school, finishing up her last class, Matt opened the front door and walked into the house.

Rylee was looking inside the bag, making sure nothing was left out, as she walked in behind him then she slammed into his back when he suddenly stopped short. She quickly looked up to see what made her brother stop walking and was surprised to see her sister Vicki walking down the stairs.

"You brought food? Great, I am starving." Vicki called out, as she walked over to Rylee and grabbed the bag out of her hand before walking toward the kitchen.

"What are you doing here?" Rylee asked, as she followed Vicki and tried not to let her anger show.

Matt stood near the stairs and knew he should probably go after his sisters in case they begin to fight, but all he really wanted to do was be with Elena. He knew Rylee would understand and could keep a cool head while talking to Vicki or at least he hoped so as he walked up the stairs and slipped into Elena's bedroom.

Once in the kitchen, Vicki sat the bag down on the counter and begin to take food out of the bag. She grabbed a few french fries and popped them into her mouth, ignoring Rylee as she tried to talk to her.

"Vic!" Rylee called out, once she realized she was being ignored.

"What?" Vicki whined, as she grabbed a few more french fries.

"I asked you a question." Rylee stated.

"I know I heard you." Vicki snapped, as she turned around to face her sister.

"Well if you heard me, then the nice thing to do is answer the question." Rylee pointed out, as she folded her arms across her chest.

Vicki rolled her eyes then said,"ok fine, I was just hanging out with Jeremy."

"And why were you 'just hanging out' with _my _boyfriend?" Rylee asked angrily.

"Aw look at you being all jealous and insecure." Vicki said with a laugh, then added,"what's wrong little sis? Scared I'm going to steal your boyfriend away."

Rylee laughed out loud at her comment, then spat,"please, like Jeremy would even touch you."

"You'll be surprised." Vicki said with a smug smile, as she walked past Rylee to go into the living room. She flopped down on the couch and turned on the tv, channel surfing until she found something good to watch.

"And what do you mean by that?" Rylee asked, as she walked into the living room and stood behind the couch.

"Shh! I'm watching tv." Vicki said, as she turned the tv up to drown out Rylee's voice.

Rylee scoffed at her sister and turned toward the stairs before walking to them. She made her way up the stairs and opened Jeremy's bedroom door cautiously. She stuck her head in the door, expecting the worst, but was surprised when Jeremy, who was sitting on his bed, looked up and smiled when he saw her.

"Hey! There's my girl." Jeremy said happily, as he stood from the bed and walked over to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into the room.

Before she could open her mouth and say a word, he pressed his lips against hers for a deep kiss. She rested her hands on his shoulders and tried to keep up with his pace but was finding it hard to do, as he moved his lips harshly over hers.

"Whoa, Jeremy, stop for a minute." Rylee called out, as she pushed him back.

"What's the problem?" Jeremy asked her confused.

"Nothing. What's wrong with you?" Rylee asked concerned. She had seen a lot of different moods from him since his parent's death, but nothing like this.

"Nothing is wrong with me. I'm just trying to have a little fun. Don't you want to have some fun with me?" Jeremy asked with a flirty smile, as he pulled her back toward him.

"Jeremy, this isn't like you. What's going on?" Rylee asked, then added when a thought crossed her mind,"did Vicki give you something?"

"Maybe." Jeremy answered vaguely.

"Jeremy, you are in a very vulnerable state right now and the last thing you need to be doing is hanging out with Vicki or doing drugs with her." Rylee pointed out sincerely.

"Ugh, you are killing my buzz." Jeremy groaned, as he took a few steps back and fell onto his bed.

"Jeremy listen to me..." Rylee begin to say, as she sat down on the bed on her knees in front of him, then she continued,"whatever Vicki gave you, it's not good for you. This is not good for you, you don't need to cover up the pain, it will only make things worse."

"Stop! Ok? Just stop it!" Jeremy called out, as he sat up then added,"I don't need you coming in here judging me. Plus it's not like you're so innocent either. You remember last summer when you came across some of Vicki's pills and decided to take them? I told you it was a bad idea, but you wouldn't listen."

"Yeah and i realized how stupid it was and it's stupid now for you to take them." Rylee pointed out.

"You know what? Vicki is so much more fun than you." Jeremy said coldly, as he laid back on the bed again.

Rylee gasp in surprise at his comment, he more than anyone, knew how she felt about her sister and he knew a comment like that would hurt her. She had to quickly remind herself that it was only his pain and the drugs making him act this way.

"Where you going?" Jeremy asked with a annoyed sigh when she stood up from the bed.

"Out, before either one of us says something we will regret." Rylee snapped, as she turned and headed toward the bedroom door. Ignoring Jeremy, as he called for her to come back.

Rylee blocked out everything as she ran down the stairs and opened the front door, she was shocked to see Tyler standing in front of her with his fist raised, ready to knock on the door with a casserole dish in the other hand.

"Hey Laney." Tyler said, smiling. He held up the dish then said,"Mom wanted me to bring this by."

Rylee ignored him as she walked past him and being to walk away from the house. Tyler sat the casserole dish down on top of a small table that was sitting on the porch as he ran down the stairs after her. She continued to ignore him as she begin to run down the sidewalk, far away from Tyler and the Gilbert house.

_...ooo...ooo...ooo..._

After running from the house, Rylee ran down the sidewalk until she got to the end of the road, then she cut through a few back yards until she was a few streets over. She headed to her favorite place, a place she always went to when she was upset, a playground. It was abandoned and overgrown with grass and weeds now, but at once time it was the best playground in town and the place she, her siblings and their friends would play at, every day when they were younger. She walked over toward a group of swings, glancing over at the huge castle looking structure that was in the middle. It was made of wood and had a few different slides on each level, depending on how high you wanted to climb, she of course always climbed up to the very top to get to the highest slide or sometimes to just sit and think when she was upset. She would really love to be able to climb inside of it now, but most of the wood was rotted and the whole thing was falling apart. Instead she down on one of the swings with her back toward the small parking lot.

Rylee had only been sitting alone with her thoughts for a few minutes, when she heard a car pull up behind her. When she heard a car door close, she never turned around, she figured it would probably be Matt, coming to check up on her.

She saw someone out of the corner of her eye sit down on the swing beside her, when the person cleared their throat, she turned to look at him and was surprised to see that it was Tyler who had found her.

"Hey." Tyler said cautiously, as he looked over at her.

"How did you know I would be here?" Rylee asked him surprised.

"You're kidding right? This is the place you always come to when you're upset or anger and when I saw you earlier, you looked like you were both, so I knew this was the place to come to." Tyler explained.

Rylee softly chuckled at his comment, it was weird how well he knew her sometimes, they might not be the best of friends now, but at one time she and Tyler were friends and she had spent a lot of time with him, like she did Jeremy, then high school happened and he became to cool to talk to her, or at least that was the reason she always figured, but the truth was he stopped hanging out with her cause he had developed on crush on her and it become harder to be around her, although he would never tell her that.

Tyler looked over at the castle then said,"I remember you use to climb up there to the very top when you were sad."

"Yeah, before Dad left and when Mom and him would fight, I would get so upset and run away from home. I would pretend that it was my castle and I would just wait for my prince to come and save me. Of course that was back when I believed in things like that, like princes and happily ever afters, but now I know better." Rylee explained.

"Me, Matt and Jeremy would find you here and Matt would beg you to come down. He was always so scared you would fall, but he could never get you to climb down." Tyler added.

"No one could get me down. Except for you." Rylee said, as she looked over at Tyler with a small smile on her face.

Tyler shrugged then said,"what can I say, I had a way with words."

"Yeah, that was back when I trusted you and back when we were friends." Rylee pointed out, as her smile faded.

"What happened to us Laney? Why did we stop being friends? Why did you stop trusting me?" Tyler asked seriously.

"Cause of you Ty, you turned into a obnoxious jerk." Rylee answered.

"No I didn't." Tyler called out, feeling offended.

"Yeah you did." Rylee said, as she turned her head to look at him then added,"you turned into a jerk and a player. You stopped treating me like a friend and started acting like you wanted to get into my pants like all of your other little whores."

"I do not." Tyler argued, then added,"and yeah I date around, but did you ever stop to wonder that maybe it's cause I'm waiting for the right girl to come along. Not everyone is lucky enough to get the girl of their dreams like Gilbert did."

"Well right now things will Jeremy don't feel like a dream come true." Rylee mumbled.

"You want to talk about it?" Tyler asked her.

"Not really." Rylee said with a sigh.

"Ok, we'll talk about something else then." Tyler said, as he glanced around the playground.

"Like what?" Rylee asked.

"Whatever you want." Tyler answered with a shrug.

Rylee sighed when she realized what he was doing, he would always do this to her. Whenever something was bothering her and she wouldn't talk to anyone about it when they begged her to, he would always act like he didn't want her to talk about it with him, which made her want to talk about and tell him all about it. Even now, years later, his little trick still worked on her.

She sighed again then said,"Vicki has been hanging out with Jeremy and she gave him some pills or something to take. I tried to tell him it wasn't a good idea and he wouldn't listen to me."

"He should know by now that Vicki is trouble, he should also know how being around her will make you feel." Tyler pointed out.

"See you get it, why can't he?" Rylee asked, as she turned her head to look at him.

"He gets it Laney, he just doesn't care right now cause he's hurting." Tyler explained.

"I know, I just wished he would listen to me, I wished he knew I was only trying to help." Rylee said sadly, as she looked down at the ground.

"Rylee, there's um, there's something I need to tell you." Tyler said, causing Rylee to raise her head to look at him. He never called her by her first name, unless he had something serious to say, she could also tell he felt very nervous about whatever it was he had to say.

"Ok what?" Rylee asked him.

"Earlier today, before Mom sent me to the Gilbert house, I was at the Grill and I overheard Vicki talking to some of her druggie friends. I guess it was when she was buying whatever it was she and Jeremy took, anyway, I heard her telling them that she and Jeremy were going to be doing the drugs and other things together." Tyler explained carefully, unsure about what her reaction was going to be.

"Other things as in...?" Rylee asked, hoping the answer wasn't what she thought.

"You know the answer to that already Laney." Tyler said, as he shot her a look.

Rylee scoffed at his comment and looked down at her feet, she couldn't believe what she was hearing, there is no way what he said could be true. Jeremy might be doing drugs with her sister, but there was no way he would sleep with her. There is no way he would hurt her that way. She raised her head and looked over at Tyler, who was still waiting to see what her reaction would be, he was waiting for her to cry or even scream from anger at Jeremy, instead she narrowed her eyes at him as she quickly stood up from the swings. She took a few steps away from him and kept her back to him as she placed her hands on top of her head and took a deep breath.

"Hey, you ok?" Tyler asked her, as he stood up and walked toward her. He lightly placed a hand on her shoulder, ready to turn her around, but before he could, she quickly turned around and placed her hands on his chest, pushing him away from her.

"You're lying." Rylee yelled at him, as she pushed him again.

"I'm not lying, I swear I heard her say that." Tyler called out.

"God, I am so stupid." Rylee yelled back, then added,"I can't believe I honestly thought we were having a little moment there, a moment where I thought maybe we could be friends again, but then you pull this crap."

"I'm not pulling anything." Tyler argued.

"You wanted to know what happened to us, why I couldn't trust you? Well this is why, this right here." Rylee said angrily.

Tyler threw up his hands then said,"I can't believe this, Gilbert is screwing around, but yet I'm the bad guy."

"That's right Ty, you are the bad guy. You'll always be the bad guy." Rylee said, as she turned to walk away.

"Rylee, wait!" Tyler yelled, as he reached out to grab her arm.

She pulled her arm away then yelled at him to 'leave her the hell alone' before running across the playground. For the second time that day, she ran as fast as she could, only this time she was running back to the Gilbert house instead of away from it. She had to talk to Jeremy, she had to know that she was right. She needed to hear him tell her that Tyler was a liar like she thought. She had to know that the rumor was not true.

Rylee made it back to the house in record time and pulled the front door open. She slammed the door shut behind her and raced up the stairs toward Jeremy's bedroom door. Without a second thought, she opened the door and ran inside the room. She skid to a stop and gasped at the scene in front of her. She felt tears in her eyes and placed a hand over her mouth when she saw the last thing she thought she would ever see, Jeremy and Vicki in the bed together. Their clothes were laid all over the floor and Jeremy was laid on top of her sister, who had a smirk on her face, as she looked over Jeremy's shoulder and looked at Rylee.

"Hi sis." Vicki said with a giggle, as she gave her a little wave.

Rylee dropped her hand that was laid on her face, she opened and closed her mouth a few times, unsure about what to say. She wasn't sure if she should yell or run as she stood frozen in place, her heart breaking into a million of pieces.

_...ooo...ooo...ooo..._

_a/n- hey all, sorry I haven't updated this story in awhile. I was kind of unsure how I wanted to start the chapter. I hope noone will kill me for how it ended lol Jeremy cheating on her was always my plan. So I hope you all enjoyed it. Thank you to everyone reading and/or adding the story. Also big thanks to TeamBlaus4EVER, Rosie-Everdeen-Potter, Sage Londyn and Emmettluver2010 for reviewing. Happy reading and please let me know what you think :)_


	5. Drinking Away My Sorrows

**Chapter 5- Drinking Away My Sorrows**

"Wha-what? How? What's going on?" Rylee stuttered, as she looked at Jeremy and Vicki, waiting for one of them to explain. She knew exactly what was going on, she wasn't stupid, but she hoped she was wrong and there was a reasonable explanation for them being in bed together, naked.

"Oh hey Rylee." Jeremy said like it was no big deal, as he rolled off of Vicki and sat up in his bed.

Rylee scoffed at him then said angrily,"'oh hey Rylee' that's all you have to say about this? Just 'oh hey Rylee'? I just found you in bed with my sister, explain."

"What can I say? I told you your sister was more fun than you." Jeremy said laughing.

"This has to be a joke. This isn't like you Jer." Rylee called out.

"This is me now Rylee." Jeremy said, as he wrapped a blanket around his waist before standing up from the bed. He walked toward her then said,"I've been the good guy for all my life and where did it get me? I still lost my parents and almost lost my sister. I'm done being good, screw being good."

"So you decided to take up with the town's trash." Rylee snapped, as she pointed to Vicki, who was still sitting in bed.

"Hey!" Vicki called out, then added,"in case you forgot, we come from the same place. So if I'm trash, so are you."

"I am nothing like you." Rylee called out, as she shot her sister a dirty look.

"You're right Rylee, you are nothing like me. You are nothing." Vicki pointed out, then added,"Matt is the golden boy and I'm the party girl, but you? You're nothing. You couldn't even hang on to a boyfriend."

"I would rather be nothing then a big slut like you." Rylee argued back.

"Wow, you can't come up with something original to say back. That's sad." Vicki said laughing.

"How's this for original? I officially hate you Vicki, you have done some crappy things in the past, but this has to be the worse. You are not my sister anymore. I never want to see or talk to you again, we are done." Rylee said coldly, as she turned to leave the room. She was almost to the door when she turned around to look at Jeremy. She pulled the promise ring he had gave her from her finger, she looked down at the ring with a hurt expression on her face. She quickly looked up at him and threw the ring at him as she said,"and the same goes for you. We are done Jeremy. When you come down from your high and realize the huge mistake you made, don't you dare call me or came see me. I was willing to be your shoulder to cry on and even your punching bag as you went through all of this, but I will not be cheated on. I never want to see you again either."

Rylee didn't wait for either one to say anything, as she turned around and walked out the bedroom door. When she walked out into the hall she saw Matt standing there with a concern look on his face.

"Are you ok Ry?" Matt asked.

"Did you know Matty? Did you know about them?" Rylee asked him, as tears filled her eyes.

"I didn't know for sure, but I suspected." Matt answered.

"Great, I guess I was the only dumb one who didn't know." Rylee said with a bitter laugh.

"No, you're not dumb Rylee. I'm sorry I didn't say anything to you." Matt said, as he hugged her.

"Are you staying here with Elena tonight?" Rylee asked him, after the hug.

"Yeah." Matt answered.

"Good, can I have your keys then? I just want to go home." Rylee asked.

"You don't have your licenses Ry." Matt pointed out.

"I don't care, I'm going home, even if I have to run there." Rylee said back.

"Ok here, be careful." Matt said, as he handed her the keys to his truck.

"Thanks, see you later." Rylee mumbled, as she grabbed the keys and walked down the stairs to leave the house.

Once outside alone, she slid behind the wheel and glanced over at the house. She looked at Jeremy's bedroom window as tears begin to fall down her face. She wasn't surprise that her sister would do something like this, Vicki was always the troublemaker of the family, but she couldn't believe Jeremy would pull something like this. She understood that he was going through a tough time and she would bet one day soon he would wake up and realize what he did, but it was to late. There was a lot she could forgive, like her father for walking out on them or her mother for leaving them months at a time, but this she could not forgive. She would never forgive Jeremy Gilbert, the first boy she ever loved and the first boy to break her heart.

_...ooo...ooo...ooo..._

Hours later, Rylee was sitting in the middle of her bed looking through a photo album. It was filled with pictures of her and Jeremy, from when they were babies, to kids, to teens, to just friends and as a couple. She wiped a few tears away as she stared at his face. She knew after what he went through that things would get worse before better, but she never thought he would stoop that low.

She grabbed the last tissue out of the box and blew her nose then tossed the used tissue into the trashcan beside her bed before slamming the photo album shut. She threw the album across the room, causing it to slam into her dresser, knocking over a few picture frames before falling onto the floor. She stood up from the bed and walked over to her dresser and picked up one of the picture frames. She lowered her eyebrows in anger when she saw it was a picture of herself, Matt, Vicki and her Mom. The picture was taken months ago, back during one of her Mom's visits. It was the last family picture they had taken.

She glanced over at the dresser and saw the snow globe that Jeremy gave her one year for her birthday when she was younger. It had a castle inside, with a brown headed girl leaned out of a window looking down at a prince below who was sitting on a white horse. He gave it to her back when she believed in fairy tales, back when she believed a prince would save her, back when he told her he would always be her prince. That he would always be there to save her when she needed someone, but now she needed someone to save her from him. She needed someone to save her from herself.

In a fit of rage, she threw the picture frame that was in her hands on the floor. Then she picked up the snow globe and threw it against the wall, causing it to shatter and fall to the floor. She yelled out in anger as she moved her arm across the top surface of the dresser, knocking over little knick knacks and a few other picture frames. Once everything was scattered across the room, she fell down onto the floor and sobbed loudly in the small quiet room.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting in the floor crying when she heard a knock on the front door. She slowly stood up, wiping away the tears as she walked out of her bedroom and toward the front door. She didn't look to see who was standing on the other side before opening the door, but she wasn't that surprise to see Tyler standing on the other side.

"What do you want?" Rylee asked with a annoyed look on her face.

"I talked to Matt." Tyler answered simply.

"So what, you decided to come by and say 'I told you so'?" Rylee asked, as she folded her arms across her chest.

"No, I just thought maybe you could use a friend." Tyler said with a small smile.

"But we're not friends remember?" Rylee pointed out.

Tyler rolled his eyes at her comment, then walked into the house as he said,"that's bullshit and you know it. We are friends and I think right now you could use one, so here I am."

"Whatever." Rylee mumbled, as she slammed the door shut before turning around to look at him.

"Besides I brought you something." Tyler said, as he held up a bottle of liquor then said,"I stole this from Dad's liquor cabinet, it's really expensive and suppose to be really good."

"What the hell, might as well drink away my sorrows." Rylee said, as she grabbed the bottle from his hands.

After drinking half the bottle, Rylee and Tyler were sitting together on the couch. Rylee was trying hard to keep Jeremy off of her mind, but was finding it hard to do so.

"God I still can't believe it. Jeremy and Vicki. My boyfriend and my sister in bed together." Rylee slurred with a disgusted expression on her face. She took a big swallow from the liquor bottle she was sharing with Tyler, then added sadly,"I don't think I'll ever get that image out of my head."

"Screw them. They suck, now move on." Tyler mumbled, as he took the bottle from her hand and took a swallow from it.

Rylee scoffed then said sarcastically,"wow, thanks Ty, that was so sensitive."

Tyler sat up on the couch then said,"look all I'm saying is, you shouldn't be to surprise that Vicki would do something like that."

"Yeah but Jeremy.."

"Is a guy." Tyler said interrupting her, then added,"you deserve better than that Laney."

"I thought he was different." Rylee said softly with tears in her eyes. She scoffed when she realized she was once again, crying over Jeremy. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes then grabbed the bottle from Tyler as she said,"but I see I'm wrong. I guess it's true, all men are dogs."

"Not all are dogs." Tyler pointed out, as he leaned back against the couch and looked at her.

Rylee rolled her eyes then took a sip from the bottle then said,"I know you're not talking about yourself there Ty, cause you're the biggest dog in town."

"Hey! I'm not that bad of a guy." Tyler called out, looking offended.

"Sure, if you say so." Rylee said sarcastically, as she turned up the bottle and drank most the of dark liquid before Tyler jerked the bottle away from her.

"At least I'm not the one banging your sister right now." Tyler snapped, as he drank the last little bit then sat the bottle down on the coffee table in front of them.

"Nice Tyler." Rylee said angrily, then added,"I just got it out of my head and you just had to make a comment about it to remind me all over again."

Tyler rolled his eyes as he sat up and said,"yeah right, like you really forgot about it for a second. It's all you've been talking about since I got here."

"Oh I'm sorry if my pain is boring you. You are the one who came here, I didn't call you, you can leave at any minute you know." Rylee snapped, as she too sat up and looked at him with a angry expression on her face.

"That's not what I'm trying to say." Tyler said softly, as he moved closer to her and looked at her.

"Then what are you saying?" Rylee asked confused.

"I'm saying, Gilbert doesn't deserve you. Just forget about him. He's not the only guy in town, there are plenty of others." Tyler explained, then added quietly as he leaned toward her,"guys who will treat you the way you should be treated."

Rylee eyes glanced from his eyes to his lips then back to eyes as she bit her bottom lip. She felt her heart begin to race, although she wasn't sure why, as he begin to move his face closer and closer to hers. His lips were inches from hers, when she finally came to her senses, she placed her hands against his chest and scoffed as she pushed him away from her.

Tyler looked at her with a confused expression as she jumped up from the couch and begin to pace across the floor. She ran a hand through her long brown hair then looked over at and called out angrily,"I can't believe this. This is a new low, even for you Tyler."

"What the hell are you talking about? What did I do?" Tyler asked confused, as he stood up from the couch.

"I honestly can not believe you are using my heartache as a way to get into my pants. That's low." Rylee explained, as she folded her arms across her chest.

"What?" Tyler asked surprised, then added,"that is not what I'm doing here."

"Then what are you doing? Why are you here Tyler?" Rylee asked, then said,"you show up out of the blue.."

"Matt called me, he wanted me to come check on you." Tyler explained, even though he knew that would make her angrier and he was right.

"I don't need you checking up on me." Rylee yelled. She prided herself on never needing anyone, she was the type to never ask for help. Whatever she was going through in her life, she could handle on her own.

"Look, I know you think you don't need anyone..."

"I don't just think that Tyler, I know I don't need anyone." Rylee pointed out, interrupting him. She took a step toward him then added,"I learned a long time ago, you can't count on anyone but yourself. I never could count on my parents, I surely couldn't count on Vicki. Then tonight I learned I can't even count on Jeremy. About the only one I could count on is Matt, but now I find out he went behind my back and called you, of all people, to come check on me. Well guess what Tyler, I don't need you. I don't need anyone."

"Fine, I'll leave then." Tyler snapped, as he threw his hands up in frustration.

"Good, get out of here." Rylee yelled, as he walked past her and headed toward the front door.

Tyler reached out to grab the doorknob, then turned around, changing his mind as he said,"no, you know what? I'm not going anywhere Laney."

"What?" Rylee asked, as she quickly turned around to look at him with a angry expression on her face.

"I said, I'm not going anywhere." Tyler repeated, then added,"it's time that you stop pushing people away, cause you're wrong, everyone needs someone they can count on and I'm going to be that for you. You can count on me."

"Yeah right." Rylee snapped with a bitter laugh.

Tyler walked over to her and placed his hands on either side of her face as he said,"just let me in, stop pushing me away and let me in."

"Why? Why are you doing this Tyler?" Rylee asked, confused.

"I told you, everyone needs someone." Tyler answered.

"But why you?" Rylee asked.

"Why not me?" Tyler asked with a shrug, then added,"you need a friend and I'm here."

"No." Rylee snapped.

"Why not?" Tyler snapped back.

"Cause you're not trying to be a friend Ty, you're trying to take advantage of this situation." Rylee yelled.

"I told you, that's not what I'm doing." Tyler argued.

"Look, I'm not stupid. I know how you, your parents and all their high society friends look at me when I see them in town. I might not be a golden boy like Matt, but I'm also not a easy slut like Vicki." Rylee argued back.

"I never said you were." Tyler pointed out.

"I know I'm nothing special and I know people see me as trash..."

"I don't think that." Tyler said interrupting her, then yelled,"damn it Rylee, can't you see how amazing you are? You are the most beautiful, smart, kind and down to earth girl I know. But why can't you see that?"

"Cause I'm not." Rylee argued.

"Yes you are." Tyler argued back.

"No I'm not. I'm..." Rylee begin to say, until Tyler cut her off by placing his hand on the back of her neck and pulling her face toward his as he captured her lips, catching her by surprise.

She squealed out in protest for a moment, causing him to deepen the kiss. She finally gave in and ran her hands up his chest then wrapped her arms around his neck as she melted into the kiss.

Surprisingly, this wasn't the first time she had kissed him before. Tyler was actually the first guy he had ever kissed. It happened on her eleventh birthday, she had had a small birthday party at the house. Her, her siblings, Tyler and all of their friends had been there when Vicki had suggested they play truth or dare to liven up the party. The small group had sat around in a circle on the floor as each person took a turn, everyone was to scared to call out dare, everyone but Rylee, who was dared to kiss Tyler. It was a quick and sweet kiss, something she never forgot about, but that kiss was nothing compared to the kiss they were having right now. She hated to admit it, but she was actually enjoying the kiss. Anytime she had kissed Jeremy, she always felt little flutters in her stomach, but with Tyler it was different, with him, her whole body came alive. She felt special, she felt needed and his kisses was quickly becoming her drug, she couldn't get enough of him.

As Tyler wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her body closer to his, he couldn't help but think how right this felt. It was no secret that he had kissed a lot of girls, but from that first moment years ago when he first kissed Rylee, he was overtaken with feelings he had never had before, out of all the girls he kissed, none sent a chill up and down his spine the way she did. Kissing Rylee felt right on so many levels and like her, he couldn't get enough of it.

Without a second thought, Rylee grabbed the bottom of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head, tossing it onto the couch before leaning down and lightly kissing across his chest, causing him to bit his bottom lip at the feel of her soft lips on his skin. She looked up at him and grinned when she heard his breathing pick up with excitement. He placed his hands flat on her back then moved them down to her butt, lifting her up as she jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist. She threw her head back and moaned as he kissed down to the side of her neck.

"Bedroom, bedroom right now." Rylee moaned, as he nibbled on her collarbone.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Tyler mumbled against her skin, as he begin to walk toward her bedroom, with her still wrapped around him.

As he walked into the bedroom, he begin to kiss her lips again as he moved them closer to her bed. When his knees hit the mattress, he leaned forward and sat her on the bed, his lips still attached to hers. He grabbed onto the shirt she was wearing and pulled it over his head, dropping it onto the floor. He grabbed one strap of the white bra she was wearing and pulled it off her right shoulder before leaning down and lightly kissing her bare shoulder. He kissed from her right shoulder over to her left shoulder, removing the other strap. He kissed back up to the side of her neck as Rylee reached behind her and unclipped the bra then removed it from her body.

Tyler looked down at her bare chest then looked into her eyes as he said softly,"God, you're beautiful."

"You're not so bad yourself." Rylee said smiling, as she reached out and unbuttoned his pants.

When Tyler felt her pushing his pants and boxers down, he grabbed her wrist to stop her. He couldn't believe he was actually stopping this, this was a moment he had been dreaming about for years, but he had to make sure.

"Wait, hold on a minute." Tyler said, as he tried to catch his breath.

"What's wrong?" Rylee asked, confused.

"Are-are you sure you want to do this?" Tyler asked.

Rylee smiled as she stood up from the bed, she continued to stare at Tyler as she unbuttoned and unzipped the blue jeans she was wearing. She pushed them, along with her panties, down to the floor. She pushed the clothes aside with her foot, then said,"I'm sure."

"Thank God." Tyler said, as he breathed out a sigh of relief.

Rylee giggled as she wrapped her arms around his back and fell back onto her bed, pulling him down with her. He laughed with her as he went back to kissing her. He grabbed her leg and wrapped it around his waist as he slowly entered inside her. She wrapped her other leg around him as he slowly rocked against her. She arched her back and groaned as he begin to pick up speed.

"Don't stop." Rylee moaned, as she threw her back and arched her back again.

With every moan Tyler could feel himself getting closer and closer, but when she begin to run her fingernails up and down his back, leaving deep scratching and yelling his name, he couldn't hold on any longer as they both climaxed together.

Tyler rolled his sweaty body off of her and laid on his back beside her on the bed. He looked over at her in confusion when she begin to giggle. He become even more confused when she laid a hand over her mouth and begin to laugh out loud.

"What's so funny?" Tyler asked her.

"I just can't believe we just did that. If someone would have told me, that I would be having sex with Tyler Lockwood this summer, I would have told them they were crazy." Rylee answered.

Tyler chucked at her comment, he too couldn't believe he finally had sex with Rylee. He had had many dreams of having sex with her, but never thought it would actually happen and he could honestly say, the real thing was better than any dream he had.

He heard her giggle a few more times as he looked up at the ceiling in deep thought. He wondered if he should tell her what he was thinking and feeling, he wondered if he should tell her how he felt about her, how he had been feeling about her for years now. He was never the type to put his heart out there like that to a girl, he always kept his heart guarded to keep from getting hurt, which was why he only had flings with girls and never got close to them, but with Rylee it was different. She was the first and only girl he ever had feelings for.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, finally deciding to tell her, he opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could, he noticed he was to late, she had fallen into a deep sleep.

Tyler softly smiled as he watched her sleep for a few seconds before he wrapped a arm around her and pulled her toward him. She threw a leg on him and cuddled into him as she continued to sleep. He kissed her forehead and rested his head on top of hers before closing his eyes and falling asleep with the woman of his dreams in his arms.

_...ooo...ooo...ooo..._

_a/n- hey all, I hope you liked the newest chapter. I am so happy that people are reading this story and liking it already. Thank you all for giving the story a chance and for adding it. Also big thanks to wizziewoo123, darciemalkin and Emmettluver2010 for reviewing. Please let me know what you think and I am hoping for lots of nice reviews, that is my birthday wish lol Happy reading :)_

_Oh and check out my photobucket for a picture of Rylee and a banner by TeamBlaus4EVER. I also have a pinterest account. My name on both sites is Miss E Charlotte like on here. Let me know if you can't find me on there and I'll try to send a link.  
_


	6. The Sympathy Bang

**Chapter 6 - The Sympathy Bang  
**

The next morning, Rylee groaned quietly to herself as she cracked a eye open before quickly shutting it when she was hit with the bright sunlight coming through her bedroom window. That one little movement caused her head to pound worse then she had ever felt before in her life. Sure she had drank before, she was a teenager after all, but it was never this bad, she had never been this hungover before. Even her mouth was extremely dry, making her want a tall glass of cold water and some aspirins, make that a whole bottle of aspirins. All she could hope for was that she didn't do anything to stupid.

With that thought in mind. Rylee moaned out loud as she rolled from one side of the bed to the other side, causing her hand to slap against bare flesh, someone's hard chest, if she had to guess.

"Damn it Laney! Watch where you're rolling would ya?" Tyler said with a groan, as he opened his eyes to look at her. He rubbed the spot on his chest that she had hit then added,"that hurt like a bitch."

At hearing his voice, Rylee whined out,"oh God", as she slowly opened her eyes and came face to face with him. Suddenly the night before came rushing back, causing her to groan again before saying."damn it! I guess last night wasn't a dream. It really happened."

Tyler looked up at her with a surprise expression before a grin came across his face,"you're dreaming of me huh? Were they as dirty as what we did last night?"

"Shut up Ty!" Rylee snapped, as she sat up in bed with the sheet covering her bare chest. The sudden movement caused the pounding in her head to increase, forcing her to rub her forehead as another moan escaped her mouth.

"Hm, that noise sound familiar and if I remember right, after you made that little noise last night, it was then followed by a 'oh Tyler!'." Tyler joked.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up." Rylee snapped again, as she shot him a dirty look, which he ignored.

"Whatever. You know you like me." Tyler said, as he shot her a grin.

"You're right Tyler. I do like you." Rylee said, as she turned to face him, causing his grin to turn into a full blown smile. She continued to look at him as she bit her bottom lip and batted her eyelashes at him before shooting him a smug look as she added,"I like you to get out of my bed."

"Nah." Tyler said, as he shook his head at her comment. He laid back against her pillows, wiggling around to get more comfortable, then said,"I like it here. I think I'll stay away."

Rylee scoffed at his comment, she couldn't believe he was actually serious about staying in her bed. He even went as far as closing his eyes, like he was honestly going to go back to sleep.

With the sheet still wrapped tightly around her body, she leaned over the side of the bed to grab her discarded shirt from last night and quickly threw it on. Next she grabbed her underwear and slipped them on before standing up from the bed, where she then grabbed a pair of black lounge shorts. As Tyler continued to lay in her bed, slowly breathing in and out as he ignored all the noise she was making, she gathered up his clothes that were scattered across the bedroom floor. Once she had everything, minus his shirt, which was still in the living room, in her arms she tossed them onto the bed and on top of him, causing the button from his blue jeans to hit the side of his face, which she actually felt bad about. It wasn't like she meant to hurt him.

"What the hell Rylee!" Tyler yelled out angrily, as he snapped his eyes open and sat up in the bed to face her.

"Sorry about that." Rylee said, as she shot him a apologetic look. Tyler nodded his head as he rubbed the side of his face, letting her know it was ok. Once she knew he was ok though, the anger came back, as she folded her arms across her chest and said,"now get out."

"Why? Why do you want me to leave so badly?" Tyler asked. He was honestly curious why she wanted to get rid of him so bad now. He guessed he was stupid to think last night could have been the start of something.

"Cause for one, I don't want Matt to come home and find his best friend in bed with his little sister. Do you know what he would do if he caught us?" Rylee asked, then before Tyler could answer, she did,"he would kick your ass."

Tyler scoffed at her comment then said,"correction, he would try to kick my ass. Don't worry, I can handle Matt."

"It's not just that though Ty. I really think it would be best to pretend last night never happened." Rylee added.

"Pretend all you want Laney, but it happened." Tyler said, trying not to feel disappointed as he slipped on his boxers then stood up from the bed, earning a sigh and eye roll from her. Not only cause of the comment, but also from him continuing to use her dreaded middle name as a nickname like he has been doing for years.

"Well let's just never talk about it ok?" Rylee suggested, then added,"we both know it was just a drunken mistake, a sympathy bang."

"A what?" Tyler asked with a laugh.

"A sympathy bang." Rylee said again, then explained,"I was depressed, we were drinking way to much, you felt bad for me and was just trying to make me feel better. Which you did, so job well done, but it didn't mean anything, right?"

Tyler looked at her and tried to decide how to answer. He could tell her the truth. He could tell her that last night was the moment he had been waiting for for years. He could confess about the long time crush he has had on her ever since they kissed during that stupid game of truth or dare at her birthday party. But if she saw last night as nothing but a sympathy bang, she probably wouldn't believe him about his feelings for her. She would just write it off as him wanting to get her back into bed. Apparently she didn't have the same feelings for him that he has for her or she wouldn't be working so hard to kick him out of her room and he wasn't about to put his heart out there just to have her stomp on it. So he did what he normally did to girls, he lied.

"Right. It might nothing. Just a sympathy bang." Tyler lied.

"Right. That's uh, that's what I thought." Rylee said quietly, as she felt her heart drop. She didn't know why, but it actually bothered her that what they shared last night didn't mean anything to him. Sure she was the one trying to kick him out and acting like it wasn't a big deal, but truth was, sex was a big deal to her. Yeah she was young and probably should have waited before losing her virginity to Jeremy after they had only been dating for a few months, but she knew right away she loved him and she wanted to share that with him, and maybe she didn't love Tyler the way she had loved Jeremy, but like Jeremy, she had known Tyler all her life and did actually care for him on some level and she had hoped he felt the same. She knew all the other girls Tyler had slept with were just a fling, someone to pass the time with until the next girl came along, which was why she never thought she would ever have sex with him, even if she had thought about it once or twice, which was something she would never admit to him, but she had always thought, or at least hoped, if anything ever did happen between them, it would actually mean something. She hated knowing she was nothing but another notch on his belt.

After a few moments of silence, Rylee cleared her throat, pushing all the confusing thoughts from her head, then said,"ok well, I'll um, I'll let you get dressed."

"No need to be all shy now. You've done seen all I have to offer." Tyler joked, as he shot her a grin.

"Yeah and I wasn't that impressed." Rylee said back, as she turned around and begin to walk toward the bedroom door.

She was almost to the door when he called out,"the noises you were making last night says otherwise. I'm pretty sure you even called me a God at one point."

Rylee turned around to face him before asking,"hey Ty? Do you remember back in elementary school when I was in a couple of plays? You and Matt use to talk about how good I was in them and how I would make a good little actress. Remember that?"

"Uh... yeah." Tyler answered, confused on why she would be bringing this up right now.

"Well what makes you think I wasn't using some of those acting skills last night?" Rylee asked, as she shot him a smug smile.

Tyler's mouth dropped open in shock at her comment. There was no way she could have been faking it last night, it felt to good to be fake. As he continued to stare at her in shock, she laughed at his expression but didn't say another word as she turned around and left the bedroom to make her way into the living room.

Tyler quickly threw on his pants, socks and shoes before rushing into the living room after her. He saw her bending over to pick up his shirt that was tossed aside last night. He paused for a moment to enjoy the view, then shook his head as he remembered what she had just told him back in the bedroom. He walked toward her then said,"whoa, wait. There is no way you were faking last night."

Rylee turned around to look at him, the smirk still on her face, as she walked over toward him. She pushed his t-shirt toward him before leaning toward him and begin to softly moan.

Tyler raised his eyebrows as her moans begin to get louder before she started to call out,"oh Tyler... oh that feels so good... don't stop."

"Ok, that's it. We are doing this again." Tyler announced, as he lightly grabbed her arm and begin to pull her toward her bedroom again.

Rylee laughed out loud as she pulled her arm out of his grasp and came to a stop. She held his shirt out toward him then said,"calm down and put your shirt on."

"No. I can't have you going around saying I'm not good in bed, I've a reputation here Laney." Tyler said, feeling a little offending, which only made her laugh harder. He shot her a look then said,"stop laughing. This is serious."

No matter how hard she tried, Rylee could not stop laughing at his comments or the shocked look on his face, that someone would even think he was bad in bed. While she was continued to laugh, he grabbed the other end of his shirt and yanked it and her toward him, causing her to slam into his chest. She quickly sobered up as she looked up at him in surprise and felt her heart racing at their closeness. With their faces only inches apart, Tyler leaned down toward her. His eyes glanced over her face, taking her all in before he said barely over a whisper,"unless you were only kidding and the truth is you really did enjoy it last night. So tell me something, was it good for you Rylee?"

"It was um... it-it uh ..." Rylee begin to stutter out, finding it hard to form any thoughts or even words with him being so close to her.

She finally just gave up trying to say anything as she snapped her mouth shut with a whimper. Tyler couldn't help but smirk at her reaction, it was the exact reaction he had hoped to get from her. With his trademark smirk still present on his face, he begin to slowly move his face closer and closer to hers, causing her to raise her eyebrows in surprise. Although she guessed she shouldn't have been to surprised that he was making a move on her, especially after last night, but what did surprise her was the fact that she wasn't moving. She knew she should take a giant step away from him, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't and she couldn't understand why. This was Tyler Lockwood, the guy she grew up with, he should be like a brother to her right? Although if she really thought of him like that then what they did last night was pretty gross. So no, she did not think of him as a brother, cause last night was, there was not enough words to describe how great last night was, though she would _never _tell him that. His ego was big enough already.

As she was lost in thought, her lips parted slightly as she waited for his lips to touch hers, but instead of just going for it and kissing her, he surprised her again, when he stopped short at her lips and raised a hand to softly caress her cheek before lightly tracing her bottom lip with his finger tip. It was like he couldn't stop himself from touching her and in that moment she honestly didn't mind.

Tyler eyes flickered between her eyes and lips a couple of times before he begin to move his face closer to hers again. Her heard her breath hitch as her eyelids begin to slowly close. He was so close to kissing her, he could swear he could already taste it, but before their lips could meet they both heard the doorknob jiggle as someone begin to unlock the front door.

Rylee snapped her eyes open and gasped in surprise as she pushed Tyler away from her, it took him a moment to realize what was going on, before he quickly slipped on his t-shirt right as the front door opened and Matt walked in.

"Hey." Matt said to his sister, then he glanced over at Tyler as he asked,"what are you doing here so early? You didn't stay the night or anything did you?"

"What? No! Come on, that's crazy Matty. If Tyler and I were stuck together all night we would have killed each other." Rylee said with a laugh, hoping her brother believed her lie.

"Well it does look like a fight broke out." Matt pointed out, as he glanced around the living room which had magazines and the throw pillows from the couch strode across the floor, as well as the empty bottle of liquor they had drank the night before sitting on the coffee table.

"Oh that! Well..." Tyler begin to say until Rylee interrupted him and said,"I did that. Just me. By myself."

As Matt shot her a confused look she continued,"after Tyler dropped by last night cause you called him to check on me, he brought me a bottle of liquor."

"You brought liquor to my baby sister?" Matt asked angrily, as he shot his best friend a dirty look.

Tyler stuttered a few times until Rylee spoke up again,"I mean, he brought me some cause I asked. It was my fault Matty. I was just... after what I saw last night, I just wanted to forget and get out of my own mind for a little bit so Tyler was nice enough to bring me something, even though he said it was a bad idea."

"Right... yeah, that's what I said. Bad idea. Liquor bad." Tyler added.

"And then what? You two sat up drinking all night?" Matt snapped.

"No! No, no, no. Absolutely not." Rylee answered, as Tyler added,"right, no, we didn't do anything."

"No, right after that Tyler left and I just sat here drinking. All alone." Rylee said.

"Then you trashed the living room?" Matt asked.

"Right, that was me." Rylee answered.

"So what are you doing here now then?" Matt asked Tyler.

"Right, well, I just wanted to make sure Rylee was ok after drinking all night. Alone." Tyler answered, then added,"plus I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out today or something."

Matt looked at the two before him as he tried to decide if he believed their story or not, until he finally realized who this was he was talking to. This was his best friend and his baby sister, neither one would lie to him, besides he knew Tyler wouldn't make a move on her, he saw Rylee as a sister too, beside he knew his sister would kick Tyler's ass if he ever tried. The two had a whole love/hate friendship thing going and it had been that way for years.

Rylee carefully watched her big brother and was worried he was on to them, she was _thisclose_ to finally just coming clean about everything and deal with the consequence when finally he spoke up and said,"I would man, but I was just going to grab a few things then head back over to Elena's."

"How is Elena and Je... how is everyone?" Rylee asked, finding it hard to even say her ex-boyfriends name.

Matt shook his head sadly then said,"not good."

"Well tell everyone I'm thinking of them and I'll try to visit soon." Rylee said.

"Everyone?" Matt asked, wondering if she meant Jeremy too.

"Everyone but him." Rylee answered softly.

"Will do." Matt said with a nod, then added,"I'll leave my truck here in case you do want to visit later or just in case you need it for some reason."

"Ok, thanks Matty." Rylee said with a smile.

"Just don't get caught by Sheriff Forbes or anything since you don't have your license yet." Matt pointed out.

"I won't." Rylee promised, then added as a thought hit her,"but wait since I had your truck, how did you get home and how are you going to get back to Elena's?"

Matt opened and closed his mouth a few times, unsure on how to answer that question, cause he knew she wouldn't like the answer. He opened his mouth again to just tell her the truth, even thought he knew she would feel betrayed to know he got a ride from Vicki after what happened last night. He knew what Vicki did was wrong and he told her as much as Rylee left the Gilbert house, but she was his sister and besides he needed a ride and she offered. But before he could finally answer, the front door opened again as Vicki walked inside.

"Hey Matty, are we going or not?" Vicki asked him.

"Vic, I told you to wait in the car." Matt answered, knowing it wasn't a good idea for his sisters to see each other this soon after all the drama.

Vicki ignored Matt's comment as she glanced around the living room before looking over at Rylee and Tyler. She folded her arms across her chest then asked,"what happened here? Don't tell me you two hooked up last night. Guess I'm not the only slutty Donovan in town now, right sis?"

After her comment, Tyler and Matt looked over at a still Rylee as she shot a murderous look toward Vicki. She balled up her fist at her sides and took several deep breaths as she tried to control her anger at her big sister, but no matter how hard she tried to control it, she realized the anger was controlling her.

Neither of the boys were prepared when Rylee suddenly lunged toward Vicki, but thankfully Tyler was quick enough to wrap a arm around her waist, stopping her in mid-air. Matt stepped in front of Vicki to block Rylee from slapping at her. Even if he did believe she did deserve to have her ass kicked, he couldn't stand to see his sisters fighting and was going to do what he could to stop it when he was around.

As Rylee fought against Tyler's hold, Matt yelled at him to take Rylee outside and far away from the house, which is what he did, as he dragged her from the house kicking and screaming.

"Calm down Laney." Tyler yelled, as he opened the passenger side door and tossed her inside. He quickly slammed the door in her face mid-scream as he jogged over to the driver side and slide behind the wheel.

"Ah! I can't believe her!" Rylee yelled, as he pulled out onto the street and begin to drive away from the house.

"She is such a..."

"I know." Tyler said, interrupting her.

"And she just stood there and... ah!" Rylee screamed, as she punched the dashboard in front of her.

"I know Laney, I know. She's every bad word and more, but you have got to calm down." Tyler said, as he reached out to grab the hand that just punched his car, then added,"and don't do that again."

"Maybe next time I'll just punch you." Rylee snapped, as she jerked her hand away from his.

"If that makes you feel better, go ahead." Tyler stated.

Rylee looked over at him in surprise as he glanced over at her. He reached for her hand again and gave her a small smile as he squeezed her hand hoping to comfort her.

As she felt her anger slowly melting away, he looked back over at the road then said seriously,"I get it Rylee, I really do. I know how it is to be so angry it takes over, but you can't let it do that to you. I know that is one thing we have in common, our bad tempers, and I know what Vicki did was wrong, but she's your sister."

"Yeah my sister that screwed my boyfriend." Rylee added bitterly.

"I know and like I said that is wrong, I'm not making excuses for it, but you've got to be the bigger person. You can't let this ruin your relationship with her. You only get one family and don't hate me for saying this, but you don't have much family left. Your Dad left a long time ago, your Mom comes and go, so Matt and Vicki are all you have left." Tyler pointed out.

"I know." Rylee said soft, then added,"I know I don't have much of a family, but I don't know if I can forgive her for this. I want to, I really do, but she has went to far this time Ty."

"I've seen what anger can do to a family and I don't want you to go through that." Tyler said back quietly, speaking from his own home life. If anyone thought his temper was bad, they had never seen his fathers. The Mayor had a even worst temper that he sometimes took out on his son, although Tyler never really talked about that to anyone. But Rylee had been at his house with Matt enough times in the past to know exactly what he was talking about.

"I'm sorry Ty." Rylee whispered, as she squeezed his hand for comfort this time, then added,"I wish we both had a blood relative we could count on, trust and love."

"That would be cool. Maybe some loving uncle could pop up or some long lost father." Tyler joked, then added,"it would be better then the screwed up parents we do have and in your case a psycho sibling."

"Very true." Rylee added with a chuckle.

The two looked at each other with a smile on their faces, before they both turned their heads back to look straight ahead. After a few minutes of silence, Rylee cleared her throat then said,"so now that you have kidnapped me and taken me from my home, will you at least feed me? I'm starving."

Tyler laughed at her comment then said,"yeah I guess I can do that. You want your usual?"

"I would love my usual." Rylee answered, smiling.

_...ooo...ooo...ooo..._

Many minutes later, the two were sitting on the hood of Tyler's car as they both dug into a paper bag to pull out the food Tyler just bought for them from Mystic Grill. After getting said food, Tyler drove to the playground that use to be a big part of their childhood and was one of Rylee's favorite places in the world. Not only was it the place she would play at when she was younger, but it was also the place she always ran to when she was mad, upset or just wanted to get away. It was her special place and Tyler knew it would help cheer her up after all the drama she had been through.

After taking his cheeseburger out of the white plastic to-go box, he raised it toward his mouth and was about to take a bite when he heard her let out a moan. He couldn't deny that he felt a tighten in his pants at the noise that she made, but when he turned his head to the side to look at her, he couldn't help but laugh as she took another big bite from her burger.

"Is it that good?" Tyler asked laughing, as she made another noise.

"Mm-hm." Rylee moaned out with a nod of her head as she chewed her food. She took a quick sip of her drink and swallowed it all then said,"I swear, noone makes a better bacon cheeseburger than the Grill."

"You weren't kidding earlier about being hungry huh?" Tyler joked, as he watched her shove a few french fries into her mouth.

"I told you, I was starving." Rylee said.

"Yeah well, I did kind of wear you out last night, so guess I shouldn't have been surprised." Tyler said with a smirk on his face.

"Damn it Ty! I thought we agreed we were not going to talk about that again. Ever!" Rylee yelled, as she tossed a french fry at him.

"Sorry, sorry. I couldn't resist." Tyler said laughing, as he picked up the fry from his shirt and popped it in his mouth.

"You're a jerk." Rylee mumbled, as she bit into her burger

"A jerk that you fu..." Tyler begin to say until she gasped out loud and shoved a handful of french fries into his mouth.

Tyler spit the fries out onto the ground as he begin to laugh at her reaction. Even if her face was scrunched up in anger, she was still the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, which was why he never could resist picking on her.

Rylee lowered her head to cover up the small chuckle that escaped from her lips. As hard she tried she could never stay mad at Tyler, he just had a way of making her laugh and forget about everything, even now he was doing a great job of keeping her mind off all the Vicki/Jeremy stuff.

With a small smile on her face, she glanced over at him and said,"thanks Ty."

"For what?" Tyler asked confused.

"For getting my mind off of everything." Rylee answered, then added,"after all of this and the way you've been, I can definitely see us being friends again which is not something I thought would ever happen again. So thank you."

Tyler smiled back as he held up his drink then said,"to being friend."

"To being friends." Rylee said back, as she held up her drink and tapped it against his drink.

"And by friends, you mean friends with benefits right?" Tyler asked with a mischievous grin on his face.

"See! Every time we have a moment you have to ruin it again." Rylee said laughing, as she punched him in the arm.

Tyler laughed back as he rubbed the spot where she hit him, then said,"it's good to see you laughing Laney."

Rylee chuckled then said,"you are unbelievable. I might have to take the whole friendship thing back."

"You know you love hanging out with me." Tyler said, as he bumped his shoulder against hers.

"Honestly, I actually do." Rylee admitted, then she shot him a smile and added,"I don't think I could have got through last night without you."

"That's because of all the sex we ha..."

"Don't even finish that sentence mister." Rylee said, as she slapped her hand on top of his mouth.

He lightly nibbled on her hand to get her to move it, causing her to punch him in the arm again. She shook her head at him then said,"can't you just be serious for a minute. What I'm trying to say is, you were right last night when you said I needed someone and you told me you were going to be that someone, so seriously, thank you for being my someone to turn to Tyler."

Tyler shrugged like it was no big deal, even though hearing her say that meant everything to him. He gave her a tender smile as he said,"hey, that's what friends are for."

Rylee smiled back at him as she scooted closer to him. She laid her head on his shoulder then said,"just friends though. There will be no benefiting between us, just so you know."

"Yeah, yeah, you say that now, but you'll be back. Once you get a taste of Lockwood, you are hooked for life." Tyler joked, as he wrapped a arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him.

"Ha-ha. You are not funny." Rylee said, as she slapped him in the stomach.

"You really need to stop hitting me." Tyler said, as he lightly tickled her side.

"And you need to stop that." Rylee said, as she jerked to the side to get away from him with a laugh.

"Ok. I'll stop." Tyler said, as he held up his hands in surrender. Then he laid back against the windshield and motioned for her to lay beside him. She laid down on her side and cuddled up to him with her head resting on his chest. She closed her eyes and begin to relax as he ran a hand up and down her back.

After a few silent minutes, Tyler assumed she had fallen asleep as she slowly breathed in and out. He rested his hand flat on her back then leaned down to kiss the top of her head before whispering,"I'll always be there for you Laney, no matter what."

With his lips still resting on her head, he took a deep breath, inhaling the fruity scent of her shampoo, then he rested his head on top of hers and closed his eyes, never seeing the small smile on her face from his whispered confession.

_...ooo...ooo...ooo..._

_a/n- hey everyone! I know it's been awhile since I have updated this story. I am so sorry! When I first thought of this story I had a idea for it, but then I started second guessing myself and had to think about it some more and now I'm going back to my original idea and just hope it turns out ok. I really hope I have not lost any readers, but if so I completely understand. But I do want to think everyone who has read and/or added this story to their favorites. Also big thanks to runawaycherry93, Sage Londyn. wizziewoo123, Emmettluver2010, TeamBlaus4EVER, TheOtherBlueEyedSalvatore, Miss Avenger, pollywallytron, roses and violets, Erudessa-gabrielle, Anonymous, belladu57 and bookfreak25 for reviewing. If I missed anyone let me know and I'll go back and add you name =) Please let me know what you all think! _

_Oh also I am on tumblr now if anyone wants to follow me. I plan to sometimes post sneak peeks of chapters for whatever story I am working on at the time. I am also on polyvore where I make banners and outfits for stories. You can find the link to both on my profile. Feel free to stalk me! lol_


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